Africa has the world’s fastest-growing youth population. It also has one of the most urgent AI development gaps — a continent where AI is already being deployed in healthcare, agriculture, finance, and governance, but where the leaders building responsible, equitable AI solutions often lack the platforms, networks, and global visibility they deserve.
The Brandtech Group AI for Good Scholarship 2026 is selecting five young African leaders who are actively using AI to tackle social and environmental challenges — and funding them to attend the One Young World Summit 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa as full Brandtech Group delegates.
The application deadline is 2 August 2026.
What Is the Brandtech Group?
The Brandtech Group is the world’s largest digital-only marketing group and the leading generative AI marketing group, a global organisation that uses technology and AI to help brands do their marketing better, faster, and more efficiently. Their partnership with One Young World on this scholarship reflects a genuine institutional commitment to ensuring African young leaders are central to the global AI conversation, not peripheral to it.
This is the third year of the Brandtech AI for Good scholarship — meaning it is an established, recurring programme with a track record of selecting and elevating African AI innovators.
What the Scholarship Covers
Selected scholars receive:
- Full participation in the One Young World Summit 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa
- Hotel accommodation in Cape Town (dates around the Summit, 3–6 November 2026)
- Return economy flights to and from Cape Town
- All meals during the Summit (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
- Transport between accommodation and the Summit venue
- Access to Brandtech Group professionals and leadership networks
- Opportunity to contribute to Brandtech’s thinking on responsible AI through collective sessions with other scholars and guest speakers
The Summit itself — described in detail in our earlier Pernod Ricard Scholarship post — is one of the world’s most significant forums for young leaders, featuring heads of state, Nobel laureates, and senior leaders from across government, business, and civil society. Being a scholarship delegate rather than a self-funded attendee means you arrive with the backing, visibility, and connections of one of the world’s largest marketing technology groups.
The Five AI Pillars: What Your Work Should Address
The scholarship is looking for African leaders whose work uses AI responsibly and impactfully in one or more of five areas:
1. AI for Sustainability and Climate Change
Using AI to address environmental challenges — climate monitoring, land use optimisation, conservation, renewable energy management, climate adaptation tools, or early warning systems for climate events.
2. AI for Education Access and Learning
Deploying AI to improve educational access, personalise learning, increase teacher effectiveness, or address the digital divide in education across African communities.
3. AI to Combat Misinformation, Online Hate, and Social Harm
Building tools or programmes that use AI to detect, counter, or reduce online misinformation, hate speech, image-based abuse, or social harm — particularly in African language and cultural contexts where global tools often fail.
4. AI for Health Access and Mental Well-being
Using AI to improve healthcare access, enable faster and cheaper diagnosis, address health inequity, support mental health, or strengthen health systems in underserved communities.
5. AI for Active Citizen Engagement
Deploying AI to strengthen civic participation, improve government accountability, support electoral integrity, enable participatory governance, or amplify marginalised voices in public discourse.
If your work does not fit neatly into one of these five pillars but uses AI positively and responsibly to address a significant social or environmental challenge, the scholarship documentation explicitly states your application will be considered. Do not self-select out on the basis of pillar fit alone.
Who Can Apply: Eligibility
Age: 18 to 30 at the time of the One Young World Summit 2026 (3–6 November 2026). Candidates over 30 may be considered by the One Young World team if they demonstrate exceptional impact and engagement.
Geography: Nationals and residents of any African country, and your AI solutions must be deployed or operating in Africa.
Leadership: Demonstrated capacity for leadership and promoting responsible AI use.
Track record: You must have a documented track record of generating impactful and innovative AI solutions in at least one of the five pillars. This is not a scholarship for people who want to work on AI in the future — it is for people already doing it.
Understanding: Demonstrated understanding of key local and/or global issues relevant to your work.
Engagement commitment: Willingness to engage with other scholarship recipients and Brandtech Group staff and management attending the Summit, including post-Summit collective thinking sessions.
What Makes a Strong Application
The scholarship is selecting five people from a global African applicant pool. Your application needs to demonstrate three things with exceptional clarity:
You are already doing the work — with evidence. “I am building an AI solution for healthcare” is not sufficient. Name the solution, describe what it does, quantify its impact, and show that it is deployed and operating — not in planning. The scholarship rewards demonstrated impact, not potential.
Your AI use is responsible and sustainable. The scholarship explicitly values responsible AI development. Demonstrate that you have thought about the ethical dimensions of your work — data governance, bias, privacy, accountability — and have built these considerations into your approach.
You will contribute to the cohort and the conversation. One Young World is built on peer learning and collective impact. Show that you bring a perspective, experience, or insight that will make the five-person scholar cohort stronger — and that you are genuinely committed to engaging with Brandtech’s mission on responsible AI.
Key Dates
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Application deadline | 2 August 2026 |
| One Young World Summit | 3–6 November 2026, Cape Town |
FAQ
Is this scholarship open to all African nationalities?
Yes, nationals and residents of any African country are eligible.
How many scholarships are available?
Five. This is a highly selective programme.
Does my AI solution need to fit exactly into one of the five pillars?
No, the documentation explicitly states that applications from candidates whose work uses AI positively and responsibly, but does not fit exactly into one of the five pillars, will be considered.
Where do I apply?
Through the One Young World scholarship application portal. Visit oneyoungworld.com and search for the Brandtech Group AI for Good Scholarship 2026.
What happens after the Summit?
Scholars participate in collective post-Summit thinking sessions as part of their scholarship commitment, contributing to Brandtech’s understanding of responsible AI and the future of the field.
For more information and application:Â
Visit the official website of the Brandtech Group AI for Good Scholarship 2026
